Beneath an Outer Rim Sky
by SatineNaberrie
Summary: Padmé survives and raises Luke. This is very AU. Luke is an only child.
1. Chapter 1

Sun was setting as a mother watched her son play with some of the neighborhood kids outside of her humble dwelling after a hard day of tiring work. The sounds of laughter were in the air as a group of boys and girls played a game of tag in the alley.

Despite the poverty they lived in the children were wrapped up in a moment of happiness that some of the adults caught as they watched.

The woman leaning by the doorway of her dwelling smiled at her son's happiness. Smiling was something that had become less common for her.

Looking at this haggard woman dressed in poor cloth, one would hardly guess this woman had once been a queen, a senator, and a leader, but that was all in the past now. Padme Naberrie Amidala had left all of that behind years ago. 12 years had passed since that life shattering day.

She was no longer the passionate idealistic Senator. Trying to change the galaxy for good was no longer her purpose. She had lost her faith in the galaxy years ago. Her new purpose was just taking care of her son Luke. Mother and Son were alone in the galaxy, for she cut off contact with all people in her old life.

The galaxy believed her to be dead. The Jedi had faked her death and not even her own family knew she was alive. Ishiko Winterstone was her new name and Lothal was her new home.

The only ones who knew of her alive were Yoda and Obi-wan, whom she refused to have anything to do with. She didn't want Luke to become a Jedi. She wanted a normal life for him and worked hard to provide for him. Life was harsh for them, but to her it was better than being found by the Emperor and his apprentice.

Her comlink started beeping inside her pocket.

She picked it up, answering it, "Hello?"

"Ishiko I need you to come in tonight, see you in 20 minutes."

"Alright." She sighed as the call ended. Working at the Moonstone Cantina at night was something she did not enjoy, but she needed the money.

"Luke it's time to come in."

Her son followed her into their home.

"I'm working tonight."

"Okay", Luke acknowledged. Staying alone at night while his mother worked was nothing new to the boy, but he didn't like it. He knew how hard she worked and knew the toll it took on her.

Padme readied herself for work quickly before leaving.

"Have a good night", her son told her before she left.

"You too." She then locked the door before hurrying to work.

Luke sat cross legged on the couch drawing in the dim light while his mother was away. They couldn't afford much and it wasn't often he had drawing materials. Sometimes he was able to scavenge old posters, where he could draw on the back of.

His mother had bought him an artist set for his 11th birthday and he loved it. Luke often dreamed of far off places, letting his imagination run free and tried drawing scenes from the stories he'd think of. He had gotten pretty good at the art and tried to sell some of his drawings to help his mom, but the material he worked with weren't very good.

Luke paused from his sketching looking at the scene, thinking. The image on his paper was that of a man and a women embracing each other. He had been inspired by a dream he had and thought of the story behind it. A warrior from another age separated from his love, reunited after many years.

The old woman had lived alone waiting for the day her lover would return and finally during a cool autumn day he did. The drawing had a sense of joy mixed with tears. The woman's eyes were crying as her face leaned into the old warrior's shoulder.

Luke considered what it would be like living alone and thought the idea to be sad. His thoughts then turned to his own mother. She wasn't alone, they had each other, but his mother had no close friends and no other family as far as he knew and he wondered about that.

His mother didn't speak of the past and would not when Luke asked. He wanted to know about his mother's life before he was born. What happened?

He remember asking what happened to his father and his mother had stopped what she doing and was silent for a moment before speaking. Padmé told her son that he died and she didn't wish to speak about it. He remember seeing a sadness in her eyes then and wondered what had happened.

The boy wondered if his mother would ever marry again. He wanted his mother to be happy and felt that if she had found someone, life wouldn't be as harsh. He didn't want her to live the life the old woman had in his drawing alone and Luke wanted a father figure very much.

He wanted what the other kids around had, both parents. Sometimes he would watch with a longing when he saw how happy some of the other families were. Luke wanted his mother to have a companion to help her out so she didn't have to work so hard.

At the Moonstone Cantina 22:00 Lothal Eastern Plains Time.

The Cantina was filled with patrons, some of which were loud. Padmé, now known as Ishiko was busy serving and taking orders.

"HEY LADY HURRY UP, WE'RE STARVING OVER HERE", a Lasat called from a table across the bar.

There's only so much I do! "I'll be there soon", she called back before setting down the drinks at the table she was at.

She then approached the table. "Took you long enough" The man sitting next to the Lasat elbowed him.

"I'm pretty busy today, I try to be fast", Padme explained.

"It's no problem, sorry about my friend, he gets irritable when he's hungry.", a Twi'lek companion told her.

The group made their order before she left to give it the cook in back.

Padmé relayed the order quickly before serving the next table. It was going to be a long night and she couldn't wait to get home.


	2. Chapter 2

Padmé returned home in the early morning hours, tired from her shift. Her son was asleep on the couch. She went straight to her bedroom, too tired to do anything else. It had been a long night with a tough crowd.

Luke awoke the next morning to see his mother was already awake.

"Good morning," he greeted.

"Morning," she replied before taking a sip from the cup she had.

"How was work?"

"Busy."

Luke could tell his mother had a rough night. The place where she worked could get rowdy at night and fights sometimes broke out.

"I'm going to go the market later. Would you like to come?", she asked.

"Sure." Luke got up from the couch and left to wash up and change clothes before going into the kitchen to eat breakfast.

The market place was busy that day, after all it was a day off for many people. Luke and his mother walked between the rows of booths trying to spot any good deals on grocery items.

Padmé spotted a rice seller that had decent prices so they walked over and waited in line.

Then her com-link starting beeping. Padmé reached into her pocket and pulled it out. "Hello?"

"Ishiko, I need you come in now. We've got a lunch rush", her boss said loudly and quick to the point.

"Okay, I'll be there soon."

She turned to her son as she terminated the connection and handed Luke some credits. "Here, buy a pound."

"Okay, I hope you have a good day."

"You too", she said before rushing off to work.

After Luke purchased the rice he walked around the marketplace, not wanting to be indoors on such a nice warm beautiful Lothal summer day.

Becoming thirsty after an hour of walking, Luke looked for a fountain. He approached one near an alley that connected to the market square and got a drink. Looking up, he saw a poster on the concrete wall behind the fountain that read, "Join the Imperial navy," with a caption that read "a galaxy force for good." There was an image depicting Imperial soldiers helping out citizens.

"Thinking of joining the navy when you're older?", a friendly voice asked from beside him.

Luke turned to face a young officer dressed in a grey uniform smiling.

"I am not sure what I want to do."

"I didn't really know what I wanted to do as a kid either. My father wanted me to join, but I like it."

"What do you do?"

"I work with computers. I help keep them running and fix problems."

"Do you travel a lot?"

"Not a whole lot. I've been to three planets. I'm from Coruscant originally."

"I've never been to another planet, but I'd like too."

A loud booming sound was heard in the distance. Both of them turned their heads toward the direction it sounded from.

"What was that? It sounded like an explosion," the man said.

Neither one of them said anything as they listened for more noise.

Luke had a feeling something bad had happened.

Then the sound of speeder bikes and blaster fire could be heard, disturbing the peace that had been in place before. The noise became louder and louder. The officer withdrew his service arm from his hip holster.

A man on a speederbike zoomed around the corner towards them. He fired blaster shots behind him at the troopers on bikes chasing him, before facing forward.

Luke backed away in fear as the chase came closer.

The officer Luke had been talking to raised his weapon to try and stop the person, but before he could do anything he was shot.

Luke watched in horror is the man fell down to the ground. The speeders sped past without stopping.

Luke stood there for a moment, tears sprang to his eyes. He could hear the screams from the marketplace where panicking people tried to move out of the way. Luke looked down the alley and didn't see anyone else, before rushing to the the fallen officer.

Luke saw that he was barely alive and gasping for breath, but he didn't know what to do. He looked in the different directions, but didn't see anyone. "HELP!", he screamed. There was no answer at first and he was unsure if he should leave the man alone and go find someone. He shouted for help again. Then he heard the sound of boots running. He turned around and saw a couple troopers running towards him.

"Help, he's been shot!"

One of the troopers knelt by the officer.

The other tried calling for help. "This is Sergeant Clive, we have a man down requesting medical assistance near the east entrance to the Market Square."

"He's dead", the other trooper called out.

Luke looked at the body and felt sick. Only moments ago he had been having a friendly conversation. He could feel the tears running down his face.

Luke felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and looked up at the trooper.

"Are you hurt?"

Luke shook his head, "No."

"Stay with the boy," the Sergeant said to the other trooper as more soldiers came. He then departed with them.

"You're going to have to stay with me, till the situation clears up," the trooper informed the boy.

"Okay," Luke nodded, still shaken up with tears.

"What's your name?"

"Luke Winterstone," he said through his tears.

"I'm Corporal Beck." The trooper paused before speaking again. "Did you know that man?"

Luke shook his head, "No, I just met him," Luke told him sadly.

The trooper looked at the boy for a moment trying to think of something to say. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

Luke nodded, wiping away a tear.

The patrons of the Cantina had ventured out of after hearing the loud commotion. Padmé was currently searching for her son worried. She had recognized the sound of an explosion and blaster fire.

She tried calling out for her son, "Luke!"

There weren't as many people in the market square as there had been before. Some items were scattered about the ground that had been deserted. She headed toward the eastern part of the market before nearing an alley where she spotted her son standing next to a soldier.

She rushed quickly towards him.

Luke and the trooper turned around towards her.

"Are you alright?", she asked.

Luke nodded, "yeah", but she could see the tears on his face.

"Are you his mother?"

"Yes."

"Your son witnessed a murder and will have to stay will me for a while, I'm sorry."

She went and hugged her son who cried in his mother's embrace.

Author's Note: I plan on having Vader appear later on in the story. It will take some time. Also thank you to my Beta Reader who helped me improve the writing.


	3. Chapter 3

Padmé laid in bed awake thinking.

Earlier her son had been questioned by an inspector about what he saw.

Luke hadn't seen much as it happened so fast. To think her son could have been killed made her feel uneasy.

After they had left the inspector she told Luke that she didn't want him out walking alone for awhile.

Could something like this happen again? She wished she had access to the holo-net in her home so she could listen to the news, but she couldn't afford it.

The Cantina had access and sometimes patrons watched the news when they weren't watching some type of sporting event. Perhaps she could find out more tomorrow.

She hoped violence in the city would not escalate.

Luke was in bed awake in the next room trying to sleep. He felt sad for the man who died. The officer seemed like a nice guy.

They were talking and the next moment he was dead. Luke didn't understand why someone would just kill someone like that. He hoped the person was caught.

The next morning Padmé was wiping down tables at work as she listened to the morning news that was on. The attack/bombing yesterday was the talk of the town.

12 people had been killed, including 1 civilian. No one had been caught yet. The attackers were unidentified, but four were said to be involved, one of them reported to be wearing Mandalorian armor.

Memories of the Clone Wars came to mind. Mandalorians had been renowned warriors in the past. Her friend Satine had worked hard to put a stop to the violence.

Satine would have hated to hear Mandalorian involvement in such an attack. After she died Mandalore had gone into chaos.

It wasn't until after the Clone Wars ended that order had been restored by the Imperial military. It was sad thinking about the devastation that was brought upon worlds.

She hated Palpatine for what he did to the galaxy and she felt partly responsible. He had used her to gain more power and not just her, but he used his own people. Many people died during the invasion and it sickened her to think about it.

She looked toward the table where her son sat watching the news. The Cantina wasn't rowdy during the day and was slow this morning.

The only people that usually came were a group of seniors that meet each morning this day to socialize over breakfast. They were currently watching the news at a table near Luke.

"Investigators are asking any persons with knowledge on the attackers to please come forward and for the public to keep on alert", a reporter spoke.

The news then switched to sports, which didn't interest Luke very much. He turned and met his his mother's gaze, but she turned around at the sound of a customer walking in. He was one of the elderly men that came in.

"Morning Ishiko."

"Good Morning Eren. Will you be having the usual?"

"Yes ma'am", he answer cheerfully as tipped his hat walking toward his group.

Padmé headed off the kitchen to inform the cook of the new order.

Luke started working on one of his drawings more.

Authors Note: Advice is welcome. Please review.


	4. Chapter 4

Luke looked up from his finished drawing pleased with it. He glanced around to see a few more tables had filled up in the past hour.

He spotted his mother filling up a man's glass, before she headed toward the kitchen area.

He glanced at the screen to see a game of throw-ball was on.

Someone shouted excitedly as a team made a goal, "Yes, About time!"

Luke looked over to see a man in the corner watching the game eagerly.

The boy looked back to the screen to see 30 minutes were left till the game ended. He didn't understand all the hype some people had over watching sports. He enjoyed playing a game of ball with some of the the other children in the neighborhood, but wasn't too thrilled to watch games.

The Cantina owner, Icarus Harding walked in. He looked around and spotted a familiar face sitting in the corner engrossed in watching the game playing on the screen.

He walked over to the man's table.

"So what brings you into town?", he asked before sitting down.

The man turned toward him. "Business"

Icarus looked around before leaning closer to whisper, "anything to do with yesterday?"

"No."

"Did your guys do it?"

"Nah, another group did." The man took a sip of his drink.

"So what was it about?"

"Weapons", the man whispered back.

Icarus's interest grew. "What kind?"

"Dunno."

The man turned his attention back to the game.

It was 18:00 Lothal standard time when Padmé's shift ended. When they arrived home, she headed toward the kitchen to prepare dinner.

"I can make dinner if you want", Luke told her.

"Alright, thank you." She went over to sit on the couch, grateful to get off her aching feet.

The boy went over to the kitchen to start cooking rice.

After the rice finished cooking, they sat together eating at the table.

Luke showed his mother the drawing he had finished earlier.

"It's beautiful."

"Thanks."

"What's the story behind it?"

Luke explained the story of a warrior who went off to war, but was lost at sea and finally came home after many years to be reunited with his wife.

After he finished telling the story, Luke asked his mother, "Would you ever want to get married again?"

Padmé set the cup down she had been drinking from. "No."

"How come?"

She didn't answer at first, but then replied, "I don't want to talk about it."

He wanted to why, but didn't press his mother. Luke wondered if it was because she missed his father so much and didn't want to have another husband.

Asleep in bed, Luke dreamed. A tall pale figure with red markings and yellow eyes was shrouded in darkness. The figured produced a red glowing blade. Luke backed away, but the figure advanced. He turned around and ran through what appeared to be some military facility. Looking over his shoulder, he could see the figure chasing him.

Luke ran through many halls until he came to a dead end. The boy turned around to see the figure approach. Luke backed away into a corner as the person moved forward. The pale skinned figure raised his blade to strike. As the blade, fell Luke shrunk to the ground screaming.

The boy felt someone touching his arm. "Luke, wake up."

He opened his eyes to see his mother at his bedside wearing a concerned look.

"You were screaming."

"I had a bad dream."

Padmé was concerned. Anakin had bad dreams before. Dreams that were not just dreams, but visions. "What was it about?"

Luke told her about the dream and she didn't like it. The description of the person in the dream did not match Palpatine or Vader, but the dream bothered her. She hoped it was nothing more than a bad dream.

"Have you ever had this dream before?"

Luke shook his head. "No."

At the Imperial Headquarters on Lothal a man sat in his office. He had just finished meeting with someone. Wilhuff Tarkin didn't like nor the trust the one who called himself "The Inquisitor," who was there because of a report of a Jedi on Lothal.


End file.
